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IEEE awards Corning Incorporated with Milestone Award for low-loss optical fiber

May 17, 2012

Corning, NY--Corning Incorporated (NYSE: GLW) announced that it has received a Milestone Award in Electrical Engineering and Computing from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) for the invention of low-loss optical fiber, which has played a pivotal role in changing the way the world communicates.

Kellie Chadwick

Corning, NY-- Corning Incorporated (NYSE: GLW) announced that it has received a Milestone Award in Electrical Engineering and Computing from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) for the invention of low-loss optical fiber, which has played a pivotal role in changing the way the world communicates. The IEEE Milestone Award recognizes significant technical achievement and innovation that occurred at least 25 years ago.

Low-loss optical fiber was invented by three Corning scientists – Dr. Robert Maurer, Dr. Peter Schultz, and Dr. Donald Keck – after representatives of the British Post Office came to Corning in the mid-1960s seeking assistance in creating pure glass fiber optics. The scientists produced an optical fiber having a total attenuation of about 17 decibels per kilometer, far superior to the best bulk optical glasses of the day, which had attenuations of approximately 1,000 dB/km. In recognition of this achievement, Drs. Maurer, Schultz and Keck have been inducted into the Inventors Hall of Fame and were awarded the National Medal of Technology in 2000.

The IEEE Milestone Award plaque was unveiled during a ceremony at Corning’s Sullivan Park Research Center, the site where optical fiber was invented.

The IEEE Milestone in Electrical Engineering and Computing Award is an initiative of the IEEE History Center. Since establishing the program in 1983, the IEEE has awarded more than 100 Milestone awards around the world. The IEEE Milestones recognize the work of leading inventors, including Benjamin Franklin, Samuel F. B. Morse, Alexander Graham Bell, and Thomas Edison; and innovative companies, including Westinghouse, Philips, IBM, and HP. This most recent IEEE Milestone dedication is sponsored by the IEEE Photonics Society, which is focused on the field of quantum electronics.

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